UFC on FOX Sports 10 heads to Chicago, UFC 170 booked for Las Vegas

Once again, the UFC will kick off its FOX broadcast schedule in the City of the Big Shoulders.

UFC on FOX 10 will head to United Center in Chicago for the third straight year in January, again falling the Saturday prior to the Super Bowl, which also is broadcast on FOX. In addition, the promotion will return to Las Vegas in February for the UFC 170 pay-per-view.

The UFC’s calendar will grow in 2014, but only slightly. With what already has taken place and what is left on the calendar, 2013 will feature 33 events from the promotion, including pay-per-views, FOX events, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2 and events that were held on FX and FUEL TV prior to those channels converting to FS1 and FS2.

Next year, there are plans for 35 UFC events: 13 pay-per-views, four shows on FOX (one per quarter, as has been the case in the past), 14 events on FOX Sports 1 and four events on FOX Sports 2.

The calendar year will set a new bar for the promotion in terms of number of events. In 2008 and 2009, the UFC put on 20 shows. That number grew to 24 in 2010; 27 in 2011; 32 in 2012, which was the first full year of its broadcast deal with FOX; and this weekend will be its 26th of 33 planned events in 2013 with UFC Fight Night 30 in Manchester, England – its first main card on FOX Sports 2.

The following week, the UFC will put on its annual Super Bowl weekend pay-per-view, but for the first time in years will take that show outside its Las Vegas home base. Instead, that card will be at Newark’s Prudential Center in New Jersey on Feb. 1. The next day, the Super Bowl takes place in East Rutherford, N.J.

But the UFC will make it up to Sin City with a pay-per-view on Feb. 22 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, UFC 170. While no headliner has been announced for that show, White recently revealed that light heavyweight champion Jon Jones‘ title defense against Glover Teixeirawould not take place at UFC 169 on Super Bowl weekend as originally announced, and instead would happen later in the year. Although only three weeks later from its original home, it’s possible Jones-Teixeira could serve as UFC 170’s main event.

Although White didn’t reveal precise time tables for other shows, or locations, for that matter, we know that of the 14 shows on FOX Sports 1, which have become “UFC Fight Night” events, a pair of them will be live finales of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which also airs on that network. In past years, it also has been easy to count on the timing of certain pay-per-view events around major holidays, like Memorial Day weekend, Independence Day and a year-end event in Las Vegas.

And Garry Cook, a company VP who is charged with Europe, the Middle East and Africa, on Wednesday said the six events planned for Europe in 2014 would be “Fight Night” events held at times appropriate for the prime-time broadcast audience in Europe, and that it would be up to the UFC’s TV deals in other countries, such as the FOX family in the United States, if they picked those events up for broadcast. A selection of those may be among the events planned for FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2 in 2014.

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